An AFM statement said that the Rome Coordination Centre had informed the AFM Operations Centre that an Italian Customs aeroplane had sighted a boat with about 26 people on board drifting some 47 nautical miles off Delimara. The boat was intercepted by a local fishing vessel that was later joined by an AFM patrol boat.

The 26 people on the boat, all of whom were men believed to be from Palestine, were taken on board the AFM patrol boat and escorted to the Maritime Base at Haywharf.

The police are carrying out investigations.